Chomsky's first political book, widely considered to be among the most cogent and powerful statements against the American war in Vietnam. Long out of print, this collection of early, seminal essays helped to establish Chomsky as a leading critic of United States foreign policy. With a new foreword by Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States.

Noam Chomsky is one of the most widely published and influential thinkers on language and mind. This book consists of an edited transcript of a lecture, delivered at the University of Delhi in January 1996, where Chomsky reflects on the history of the 'generative enterprise' to relate it to some strikingly novel advances in recent grammatical theory.

The Backroom Boys is a dispassionate examination of official indifference and duplicity. Chomsky exemplifies these tendencies by focussing on the image of the United States as reflected in Vietnam and provides a devastating indictment of the way American power operates today.Through a close analysis of the Pentagon Papers Chomsky outlines with great conviction the horrifying detachment and remoteness of those in power from the realities of Vietnam. The essay which follows, discussing the implications of the Paris Peace Agreements, continues this theme showing how Washington, with the aid of the American press, has misrepresented these Agreements to the American public and in so doing has justified continued involvement in South-east Asia.Noam Chomsky is acknowledged throughout the world as one of America's leading social critics and a major opponent of the Vietnam War.

Deterring Democracy From World War II until the 1980s, the United States reigned supreme as both the economic and the military leader of the world. This book offers a devastating analysis of American Imperialism, drawing alarming connections between its repression of information inside the US and its aggressive empire-building abroad. Full description

Scholarly polemicist Noam Chomsky's latest book Hegemony or Survival argues that America's strategy for the future is nothing less than the maintenance of American hegemony through the use or threat of military force--a strategy that threatens to leave the world a more dangerous and divided place. He goes on to claim that the only other world superpower with any chance whatever of curbing America's ideologically driven quest for global dominance is World Public Opinion. Recent books on American involvement in Middle East affairs, books such as Dilip Hiro's Iraq, Rampton and Stauber's Weapons of Mass Deception, and, more recently, The Guardian sponsored The War We Could Not Stop have also drawn attention to the propaganda war waged upon the American public by the Bush administration. For Chomsky this is by no means a new development. He sees American foreign policy historically showing a remarkably pattern of hypocrisy, racism, exploitation, and cynical manipulation of public opinion by successive US administrations. What is new and disturbing about the events leading up to the invasion of Iraq, he says, is the precedent America and Britain have set for establishing new norms of international law. The concept of "preventative war" must have its victims and those victims must be weak, yet important enough to be worth the trouble. Any country that is opposed to US interests but is capable of defending itself--i.e., those with nuclear capabilities--will be left alone. He leaves us with the terrifying assessment that the clear and catastrophic message to opponents of American hegemony is to get nuclear--quick. It's the only way to keep the bully off our backs.

One of Chomsky's special talent remains his ability to undermine comforting platitudes--such as the idea that we Westerners have become more "humanitarian" over the last few decades or that we have been making steady moral progress. As with Greg Palast's The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, Chomsky's Hegemony or Survival is relentlessly damning of the American political and economic elite and highly sceptical of the idea that virtue is to be found there. But if you're looking for a more balanced and hopeful examination of America's excursion into modern empire building and the problems it poses try Michael Ignatieff's Empire Lite. --Larry Brown

Scholarly polemicist Noam Chomsky's latest book Hegemony or Survival argues that America's strategy for the future is nothing less than the maintenance of American hegemony through the use or threat of military force--a strategy that threatens to leave the world a more dangerous and divided place. He goes on to claim that the only other world superpower with any chance whatever of curbing America's ideologically driven quest for global dominance is World Public Opinion. Recent books on American involvement in Middle East affairs, books such as Dilip Hiro's Iraq, Rampton and Stauber's Weapons of Mass Deception, and, more recently, The Guardian sponsored The War We Could Not Stop have also drawn attention to the propaganda war waged upon the American public by the Bush administration. For Chomsky this is by no means a new development. He sees American foreign policy historically showing a remarkably pattern of hypocrisy, racism, exploitation, and cynical manipulation of public opinion by successive US administrations. What is new and disturbing about the events leading up to the invasion of Iraq, he says, is the precedent America and Britain have set for establishing new norms of international law. The concept of "preventative war" must have its victims and those victims must be weak, yet important enough to be worth the trouble. Any country that is opposed to US interests but is capable of defending itself--i.e., those with nuclear capabilities--will be left alone. He leaves us with the terrifying assessment that the clear and catastrophic message to opponents of American hegemony is to get nuclear--quick. It's the only way to keep the bully off our backs.

One of Chomsky's special talent remains his ability to undermine comforting platitudes--such as the idea that we Westerners have become more "humanitarian" over the last few decades or that we have been making steady moral progress. As with Greg Palast's The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, Chomsky's Hegemony or Survival is relentlessly damning of the American political and economic elite and highly sceptical of the idea that virtue is to be found there. But if you're looking for a more balanced and hopeful examination of America's excursion into modern empire building and the problems it poses try Michael Ignatieff's Empire Lite. --Larry Brown

More editions of Hegemony or Survival?: America's Quest for Global Dominance:

Chomsky, Noam. Imperial Ambitions - Conversations on the Post-9/11 World. Interviews with David Barsamian. New York, Metropolitan Books, 2005. 8°. 226 pages. Original Softcover. Signed by Noam Chomsky. Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and political activist. He is an Institute Professor and professor emeritus of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Chomsky is well known in the academic and scientific community as one of the fathers of modern linguistics, and a major figure of analytic philosophy. Since the 1960s, he has become known more widely as a political dissident and an anarchist, referring to himself as a libertarian socialist. Chomsky is the author of more than 150 books and has received worldwide attention for his views, despite being typically absent from the mainstream media. (Wikipedia)

In this important new collection of interviews with the acclaimed radio journalist David Barsamian, Noam Chomsky discuses U.S. foreign policy in the post-9/11 world. Barsamian has a unique rapport with Chomsky having conducted more interviews and radio broadcasts with him than any other journalist and here explores topics Chomsky has never before discussed: the 2004 presidential campaign and election; the future of Social Security; the increasing threat of global warming; and new dangers presented by the United States' ever-deepening entanglement in Iraq. The result is an illuminating dialogue with one of the world's leading thinkers and a startling picture of the turbulent world in which we live.

More editions of Imperial Ambitions: Conversations with Noam Chomsky on the Post 9/11 World (TBP) (GRP):

The work written by the noted American linguist two decades ago explains the basic principles of transformational generative grammar, its relation to the general structure of an adequate language theory, and its specific application to English.

The volatile Middle East is a site of vast resources, profound passions, frequent crises, and long-standing conflicts, as well as a major source of international tensions and a key site of direct US intervention. This book brings an understanding of the internal dynamics of the Middle East and of the role of the United States.

NOAM CHOMSKY IS UNIVERSALLY ACCEPTED AS ONE OF THE PRE-EMINENT PUBLIC INTELLECTUALS OF THE MODERN ERA. OVER THE PAST THIRTY YEARS, BROADLY DIVERSE AUDIENCES HAVE GATHERED TO ATTEND HIS SELL-OUT LECTURES. NOW, IN UNDERSTANDING POWER, PETER R. MITCHELL AND JOHN SCHOEFFEL HAVE ASSEMBLED MORE... THE BEST OF CHOMSKY S TALKS ON THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF THE POLITICS OF POWER. IN A SERIES OF ENLIGHTENING AND WIDE-RANGING DISCUSSIONS - PUBLISHED HERE FOR THE FIRST TIME - CHOMSKY RADICALLY REINTERPRETS THE EVENTS OF THE PAST THREE DECADES, COVERING TOPICS FROM FOREIGN POLICY DURING THE VIETNAM WAR TO THE DECLINE OF WELFARE UNDER THE CLINTON ADMINISTRATION. AND AS HE ELUCIDATES THE CONNECTION BETWEEN AMERICA S IMPERIALISTIC FOREIGN POLICY AND SOCIAL INEQUALITIES AT HOME, CHOMSKY ALSO DISCERNS THE NECESSARY STEPS TO TAKE TOWARD SOCIAL CHANGE. WITH AN EYE TO POLITICAL ACTIVISM AND THE MEDIA S ROLE IN POPULAR STRUGGLE, AS WELL AS US FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC POLICY, UNDERSTANDING POWER IS DEFINITIVE CHOMSKY.

Paperback. Pub Date: February. 2009 Pages: 240 Publisher: Penguin In this all-new collection of conversations. Noam Chomsky Explores immediate and urgent international CONCERNS including Iran's challenge to the United States. The deterioration of the Israel-Palestine CONFLICT (conflict algorithms). The ongoing occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. the rise of China. and the growing power of the left in Latin America. as well as the Democratic victory in the US midterm elections and its ramifications for the future. As always. Chomsky presents his own ideas vividly and accessibly. with uncompromising principles and valuable insights. These interviews will inspire a new generation of readers. as well as long-term Chomsky fans eager for his latest thinking on the many crises the world now confronts.

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Chomsky takes on the international scene since 1945, devoting particular attention to events following the collapse of the Soviet Union. He develops a forceful critique of Western government, from imperialist foreign policies to the Clinton administration's empty promises to the poor.